Transportation, Logistics & Defence

Good transportation infrastructure and services are important preconditions for increasing trade, and managing economic development. Because, the situation of a transport sector of a country confirms the transport costs and the degree of access to domestic and foreign markets, all of which impact the country’s development prospects. Within this scope, Being a natural bridge between the Asia and the Europe, Turkey is one of the most vibrant economies in the midst of ever-developing countries.

Turkey’s strategic location provides access to multiple markets with 1.6 billion people, a combined GDP of USD 27 trillion and more than USD 8 trillion of foreign trade which corresponds to around half of the total global trade. Trade in Turkey has been rising significantly and the region has more of a presence in global trade. In 2014, almost 1.1 percent of the global trade volume was conducted by Turkey, and the country’s share in global trade is expected to exceed 1.5 percent by 2025.

The Turkish economy, which has been growing at an average annual growth rate of almost 5 percent over the last 12 years, provides many opportunities for the logistics sector. Smooth, cost-effective and safe transport of exports and imports is a priority for Turkey. In this regard, investments in all modes of transport have been increased since 2003 and regulatory framework in this area has been improved. Many new airports have been built, dual carriageways have spread across the country, the high-speed train network has started to reach major cities and the capacity of Turkish ports has been increased.

In order to meet the increasing demand of private sector, Turkey has increased the capacities of the ports and expedited the bureaucratic formalities in shipping. Turkey also increased its bilateral and multilateral efforts to improve international transport. In this regard, Turkey continued cooperation efforts in various international platforms and signed and ratified various bilateral and international transport agreements. The Turkish government has set challenging targets to be achieved by 2023 for improving the logistics infrastructure even more. These targets include, but are not limited to:

Building an additional 15,000 km of dual carriageways and highways

Increasing the shares of railway transportation to 10 percent and 15 percent in passenger and freight transportation respectively

Building an additional 9,000 km of high-speed train lines

Constructing new airports with a total annual capacity of 400 million passengers

Turkey has increased the capacities of the ports and expedited the bureaucratic formalities in shipping.

Increasing the share of sea freight transportation to 10 percent in total freight transportation and containerization by 15 percent

Building three large ports in each seas surrounding Turkey

Turkey’s advantageous geographical location, which provides easy access to Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, allows the country to function as a hub for over USD 2 trillion worth of freight carried in the region. Turkey’s current logistics industry size is estimated to be USD 80-100 billion and is forecast to reach USD 150-200 billion by 2023.